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 Originally Posted by wufwugy
Are the government's various monopolies good?
They're better than private monopolies for reasons I've already stated... governments are accountable so long as they are democratic. An ideal government monopoly is not interested in makiong profits for shareholders, and instead is focussed on delivering an essential service which is of net gain to the economy. That's the principle that should be at work here. In practise it doesn't work like that, but that's the principle I'm behind.
It's an in/out referendum. There are no terms.
The EU is a good idea in as much as it is for open trade and free movement, but the common currency is a failure and centralization is a disaster. What are you guys voting on? What are the concerns?
The concerns that people in the UK have (and across Europe) are that the EU is undemocratic (they are "elected" by parliament, not elected by the people), and that it compromises the sovereignty of member states. Our tax affairs are increasingly controlled by Brussels, along with many other laws. The only good things that Europe has given us is the Human Rights Bill, but there's literally nothing stopping us from having our own Bill that mirrors theirs, and trade agreements, which can be negotiated from outside. Our membership in the EU makes it difficult for us to negotiate free trade with nations like China or USA, because we have continental obligations.
As for free moevment, well that doesn't exist for us like it does for the the mainland. We need passports to leave the country. I don't see this as a problem though. Aside from passport controls, law abiding citizens generally have no problem travelling Europe. But free movement is hardly essential, when weighted against democracy and sovereignty.
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